Office: TBD
Office Hours: W 12:30–1:30 PM, or by appointment
E-mail: nicolek4@hawaii.edu
Course Description
What do Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram have to do with writing? In this course, we will examine how the continued development of social media and innovative technologies is used to communicate a variety of messages. Because the way we connect with the world around us is becoming increasingly multimodal, it is important that you, as students and writers, be able to effectively compose thoughtful arguments within these online spaces.
Through a series of informal blog posts and forum discussions, and four formal essay assignments, you will be challenged to apply what you know about social media and pop culture to your writing to create not only entertaining, but also engaging pieces for an appropriate target audience. During this course, you will conduct research on the topics that interest you the most in order to support your ideas/claims with concrete evidence. For your final essay, you will be given the freedom to share and present your work using whatever format you feel would best communicate your opinions and findings.
Learning to compose writing using various multimodal platforms is a skill that will benefit you beyond the English classroom, and will be useful in your everyday lives. Writing is a process, and I, therefore, encourage you all to explore and experiment as we progress through the semester. Ultimately, the activities, discussions, and assignments completed in this course should push you to become more critical, self-aware, and reflective writers and members of an online community.
Course Texts and Resources
All reading and resource material will be provided as PDFs or online links via the course website. One resource we will be using is Purdue OWL: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/. Please check your e-mails and our class website regularly for updates.
Course Assignments
Four Major Essays:
All essays will follow MLA guidelines and include a Works Cited page when necessary. Your work should be double-spaced and written in either Arial or Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins all around. Please see class website for due dates and assignment details.
- Audience Essay (~1,000 words, plus Track Changes metacommentary)
- Visual Rhetorical Analysis Essay (~1,250 words)
- Comparative Analysis Essay (~1,250 words)
- Research Essay and Presentation (~1,750 words)
Blog Posts:
Students will write 350 to 500 word semi-formal responses to various prompts pertaining to our class readings or discussions every other week. These blog posts are intended to help students explore, summarize, analyze, and synthesize the course material so that these ideas may be incorporated into their major essay assignments. Students will upload these blog posts to the class website by 6 PM on Sunday evenings. Please see the class website for due dates and assignment guidelines.
Discussion Facilitation and Attendance:
During the second half of the semester, students will lead one in-class discussion on a topic related to the course. During this activity, students should prepare three to five questions that are drawn from weekly readings, blog posts, and/or current events related to the course materials. Because these class discussions will play an integral role in the growth and development of student ideas, it is important that all students attend class regularly. Regular attendance is, therefore, expected.
Note: This course description is subject to change. Please contact the instructor at nicolek4@hawaii.edu for more information.